Kuwait to buy stakes in India's ONGC petrochem plants

16 Jan '14

2 min read

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has expressed interest in buying 26 percent stake in the Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) Rs. 213.96 billion petrochemical plant located at Dahej in the Indian state of Gujarat, as well as the Rs. 57.5 billion chemical plant in Mangalore, reports Economic Times quoting PTI.

A KPC delegation participated in the recently held International Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (Petrotech-2014) in the city of Noida, where the representatives from the firm expressed the desire to buy a stake in the ONGC-owned petrochemical plants.

Currently, ONGC holds 26 percent stake in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd., the special purpose vehicle (SPV), which was formed for setting up the petrochemical plant in the special economic zone (SEZ) of Dahej, whereas 5 percent stake is with the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and state-owned gas utility GAIL India owns 15.5 percent.

The remaining 53.5 percent equity of the Dahej plant valued at Rs. 34.34 billion is yet to be formalized, and the ONGC is keen to get an overseas partner who can either bring in technology or marketing support for the plant which is scheduled to be built by the end of 2014.

The Kuwaiti national oil company has also shown interest in buying stakes in the ONGC petrochemical plant coming up in Mangalore, as well as the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited’s (BPCL) proposed chemical unit at Kochi in Kerala.

As of now ONGC holds 46 percent stake in the ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd., (OMPL) which is currently constructing the aromatic complex in the city. The Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) holds 3 percent stake in the project that will produce 905,000 metric tons (MT) of paraxylene and 270,000 MT of benzene utilizing the naphtha and other streams from MRPL.

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